Abu Dhabi: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has voiced the UAE’s concern over the negative effects of the US President Donal Trump’s decision to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on the stability in the region and the prospects for the peace process between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
“The US move could throw a lifeline to terrorist and armed groups, which have begun to lose ground in the region,” Shaikh Mohammad said during a meeting with a delegation from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) at Al Shati Palace in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Shaikh Mohammad and the 50-member WINEP delegation discussed a wide range of political issues of mutual concern and ways of enhancing strategic bilateral cooperation so as to serve the interests of the two countries.
He presented an overview of UAE foreign policy and its vision for developments in the region.
Regional and international repercussions of America’s decision, which runs counter to international resolutions on legitimacy, figured high in discussions between the two parties.
Shaikh Mohammad expressed his hope that the US administration would reconsider its move and work in an effective and neutral manner to draft true principles for peace that serve all and realise development and stability in the region.
During the meeting, which was also attended by UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the situation in Yemen also came up for discussion, including the latest developments in Sana’a and the criminal and repressive policies of armed militias.
Shaikh Mohammad said the UAE and the Arab coalition had reiterated several times their commitment to a political solution in Yemen, noting that that solution will never be at the expense of the security and stability in the region. “It will also not be at the expense of enabling a militia that operates outside state authority, posing a direct threat to the security and stability of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the region at large.”
He made a reference to ballistic missiles launched towards Saudi cities with clear support from a regional power that seeks to spread chaos and destruction in the region as it has unfortunately done in other Arab cities.
Shaikh Mohammad asserted that both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been and are still working to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people by providing humanitarian and developmental assistance to liberated areas in the country and have opened land, air and sea routes to deliver humanitarian assistance to the affected cities that are still under the control of the armed and terrorist groups.
Discussions also spanned the issues of terrorism and violence in light of international efforts to rid the region of these menaces. “The UAE will pursue its cooperative approach with the international community in order to counter extremism, violence and terrorism and dry up sources of funding and eliminate extremist and terrorist platforms and ideologies,” Shaikh Mohammad said.
In this respect, the two sides recognised the importance of doubling efforts and cooperation among countries of the world to fight terrorist groups, which have posed real risks to world peace and security. They also stressed the need for finding lasting settlements to other pressing issues.
